


Bits and Pieces

by InsaneTrollLogic



Category: Animorphs - Katherine A. Applegate
Genre: Ficlet, Ficlet Collection, Gen, Prompt Fic
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-02-28
Updated: 2015-11-09
Packaged: 2018-03-15 16:40:22
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 9
Words: 3,472
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3454280
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/InsaneTrollLogic/pseuds/InsaneTrollLogic
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>A series of unconnected Animorphs-related ficlets.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Food Fight (ensemble)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Tumblr prompt: Food fight.

It’s Cassie’s idea and it’s a terrible one.

Mostly because it’s something that puts Ax in the middle of baked goods. It’s not quite the level of cinnamon buns but there something horrifically fascinating about watching him shovel potato salad into his mouth with his bare hands. 

“I can’t believe you have a picnic basket,” Rachel says. “With a red checkered blanket.”

{Is this not part of the ritual} Ax asks in thought speak, too busy eating to attempt words. 

“I thought everyone had one,” Cassie says. “It’s a normal thing to do. And we could all do with a little normal.”

“Nothing about watching Ax eat is normal,” Marco says. “Besides me and dad were always of the pizza and TV crowd. We don’t really do nature.”

“It was a great idea,” Jake says diplomatically. “It’s been a long time since I had a day like this.”

“What do you mean you don’t do nature?” Rachel asks. “You can turn into sixty different parts of nature.”

“Oh please, like warrior princess Barbie would be caught dead with nature on her face.”

“I think you’re the one with something on your face,” Rachel says.

Cassie has a premonition that this is about to go very, very poorly. 

A thick glop of chocolate pudding hits Marco in the face. He freezes for a second and then a smile spreads across his face and he screams, “Food Fight!”

It’s mayhem but at least there’s no morphing, nothing broken. Rachel is shrieking with laughter. Ax is attempting to lick the pudding off the side of Cassie’s face. Jake is smiling like she hasn’t seen since before he learned about Tom.

Then a dead mouse hits Marco in the side of the head and he yelps, scrambling to his feet. “What the hell, bird brain?” he hollers up at Tobias.

{Heh, heh,} Tobias laughs. {Ten points to the hawk, none for Marco.}

Marco picks up a handful of grapes and starts throwing. 

These are her friends. Four humans, a bird and an Andalite up against a yeerk invasion.

Humanity’s last hope. And somehow, impossibly, they’re not doomed yet.


	2. Wasted Potential (Marco, Nora)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Tumblr prompt: Post-#30 Marco-and-fam angst.

I go home and Nora’s there.

She’s sitting on the couch her head nestled into my dad’s shoulder. I’d seen my parents like this before. Mon curled up next to dad. Dad with an arm slung over her shoulder, idly playing with her hair.

Mom who went over a cliff today.

Mom who went over a cliff because I—

“Marco?” Dad calls standing up.

I go to my room and slam the door. There’s nothing to show from today’s adventures. No scars, no body. But Visser One’s good at that. There’s never any body.

I don’t even know if she’s…

There’s a knock on my door. I pull a pillow over my face. “Go away, dad!”

“I’m not your father,” the voice says. Nora. My math teacher. The woman my father’s deemed worthy of his time. “Or your mother. But I am worried about you.”

“I’ll finish my homework I swear.”

Nora waves a hand. “You could do it in your sleep if you actually bothered to stay awake through the instruction.”

“If this is a talk about my wasted potential, I’m really not in the mood.”

“We’ll save that talk for later,” Nora says, sitting down at my desk. “I love your father, you know. And I think he loves me. But what I absolutely _know_ is that he loves you. He loves you so much that if you said the word, I’m gone.”

“I wouldn’t do that to him,” I say. “He deserves to be happy I just… I always thought mom was coming back. Even when they said she was gone, I thought there was a chance that she'd make it back.”

Nora brushes the hair back from her eyes. “Because they never found her. Closure, right? I’ll tell you a secret about closure. It doesn’t change anything. The situation stays the same. Your mom loved you and your dad. I’m sure if she could be here, she would be.”

“Are you telling me to man up?” I joke feebly. “Because that’s harsh. Even for a math teacher. What if she’s not dead? What if she comes back and dad’s here with you.”

“I don’t want to replace your mother,” Nora says. “And I don’t like to think about the hypothetical. If you live in the past, nothing will ever get done. Right know, I know I love your father, and I’d very much like to stay.”

“And if mom comes back?”

“We’ll deal with that when it comes.” She sticks out a hand. “Truce?”

I shake it. “Yeah, truce.”


	3. Ruthless (Cassie, Marco)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Tumblr prompt: Something, anything, about Cassie and Marco’s friendship ? :)

“Can we not do this right now?” I say as Cassie moves to sit next to me. 

Rachel and Jake are gone already, off to some family function, Tobias and Ax back to their bird-Andilite bachelor pad in the woods. I can’t face going home right now and Cassie’s barn is the only place I have left to decompress.

“Do what?”

“Moralizing. I can't listen to that right now. If I stop to consider the fact that what I’m doing is—Cassie I’m going to fall apart if I think like that.”

“You made the right call.”

“Yeah,” I snort. “Jake already told me that. It was maybe twenty seconds after Rachel called me a cold bastard.  _Rachel_.”

“Rachel didn’t see the solution,” Cassie replies.

“But you can.” I sit up straighter. “You see it too, don’t you? That clear bright line. You see it and you’re still… you’re still you.”

“I couldn’t do it without you.” She sits down next to me, our shoulders not quite touching. “You know that right? If you weren’t here, it would be me that Jake turned to for a the hard solution. For the fastest way to get to the end. I don’t want that job. It would turn me into something…”

“Something like me?”

“We need someone like that. You know we do. I’d could do it if I had to. And if something ever happens to you, I'm going to wind up with your job. I don’t like it, but I understand. We’re all going to hate you for saying it sometimes, but sometimes the ruthless solution is the only way to survive. You made the right call.”

I let out a long shuddering breath.

She can see it too, the ways that people can be manipulated, the most efficient way to get to get from point A to point B. She’s always been able to see it. She’s the girl who once risked the entire war effort on the chance that she could make a peace with a single yeerk. She’s the girl who subsists on blind hope, who believes that people can be better. Who sheds a tear over every enemy. And if she can see my solutions, that means—

I’m still human.

She slings an arm over my shoulder. “You going to be okay, Marco?”

“Yeah.” I lean into her warmth. “Yeah, I think I will.”


	4. Balance (Elfangor, Loren)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Tumblr prompt: Loren and Elfangor go rollerskating

Humans are an utterly illogical species.

Andalites are practical. Weight distributed through four legs, two pairs of eyes to survey in all directions. My first few weeks as a human I walked very carefully. The bodies have excellent balance but the sensation is disconcerting.

Then Loren suggested an activity known as ‘roller skating.’ During ‘roller skating’ one attaches wheeled boots to one’s feet and attempts to propel oneself around a large oval. Loren assures me this is a leisure activity. There is the same loud music that I first remember hearing in the yellow mustang and many of the humans appear to be moving their limbs in a manner known as ‘dancing’.

Loren pays for us both and steers us to a counter where the attendant asks us if we would prefer inline skates or quads. The inline skates have four wheels arranged in a line, however, they, like the quads also have four wheels. Before I open my mouth to ask about this inconsistency, Loren answers for us both, requesting inline skates for herself and quads for me. It appears to be a barter system and we are required to give the attendant our shoes in exchange for the skates. “Relax, Al,” Loren says. “It’s just so we don’t walk out with rental skates. This is going to be fun. I promise.”

She laces up her skates with a quick, practiced hand and darts out onto the rink while I struggle with my own. She moves with an oddly fluid grace, crossing her feet to gain speed in the turns. She has been introducing me slowly to Earth culture and despite my Andalite upbringing, I have enjoyed nearly all of it.

Loren reappears as I finish lacing my skates and holds out a hand so that I can step carefully from carpet to rink. She keeps her hands in mine as we begin to roll on the flat surface. I attempt to emulate the motion of her legs only to crash to my knees after only one stride.

Most people on Earth can walk, well balanced on two strong legs. When I’d first seen humans, I’d expected them to spend most of their day attempting to remain upright. The roller rink is very much how I pictured Earth. Limbs pinwheeling in a failing effort to beat gravity. I am not the only victim of these contraptions. Half of the humans seem to suffer my same fate, but most of them are smiling.

“This is utterly illogical,” I grumble.

Loren smiles. “Takes practice, Al. Just like everything else does.”

“Impossible.” There are two bruises blossoming on my knee caps. “I cannot believe this is considered leisure.”

She does the impossible and spins so that she’s moving backwards. Then she holds out both hands. “Come on, I’ll teach you.”

I grab her hands. Loren keeps us moving, offering me gentle instruction as I go. I see the value in this as a training exercise. It must be excellent instruction for young humans attempting to learn balance. We continue around the rink in this manner for several songs and every time I begin to wobble, Loren’s strong arms keep me upright.

A voice breaks through the music to announce something called a ‘couple’s skate’ and the hordes of children dart off the rink. “Should we leave as well?” I ask.

“Couples skate,” Loren says. She spins again as the lights dim and the music slows. “Means it’s you and me.”

Her grip on my hand changes, her fingers lacing into mine. My heart beat speeds up as she smiles.

“Do you still hate this?” she asks, voice pitched low under the music.

“No,” I reply, surprised to find it’s true. I look down to our enjoined hands. “No, I believe I am beginning to understand.”


	5. Prey (Tobias)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Tumblr prompt: Hawk Tobias vs Human Tobias?

The hawk doesn’t go away.

It’s always there. When I morph human, it’s still there, this tiny voice inside me still screaming for the sky. It’s in the way I stare too long, in the way my head darts to movement. The way I prefer my burgers just a little too rare. The hawk's still there when I morph a roach or an Andalite or a dolphin. The instincts that have fused with the boy I was.

Rachel wants me to go back, but Rachel only thinks she knows the boy. She didn’t know me when I was human. Didn’t know me before I had the hawk’s borrowed strength. She didn’t know the reality of ratty clothes, an alcoholic uncle and no way out. She doesn't realize that if I’d stayed human, I would have been the perfect recruit to the Sharing, would have said the wrong thing to my uncle, would have been infested or dead before I was sixteen. The Animorphs saved me. The  _hawk_ saved me.

 _Go back,_  Rachel says.  _You can be human again. You can escape. You can be safe._

She doesn’t understand.

When I was human, I was  _prey_.


	6. Superhero (Cassie, Rachel)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Tumblr prompt: Rachel and Cassie awkwardly trying to discuss their feelings about each other (platonically or romantically, anything is good)
> 
> [Takes place very near the end. Circa book 53 I'd say]

Tobias is out hunting, Jake off with James discussing tactics. Marco is in the shelter with his family. Rachel hasn’t talked to Cassie, really talked, since she let Tom go, but it’s just the two of them right now. She might not get another chance.

Cassie starts when she sits down and doesn’t quite smile. Rachel pinches the bridge of her nose. “Look, I’m sorry I snapped.”

“No you’re not,” Cassie says. “Don’t apologize if you don’t mean it. You taught me that.”

“You’re right. I’m not sorry I snapped. I still think you made the wrong call, but…” Rachel trails off making an abortive gesture in the air.

“It’s okay,” Cassie replies.  “I don’t like all the decisions you make either. Doesn’t mean we’re not still friends.”

Rachel leans back, stares up at the darkened sky. “You remember the first time we went camping?”

“In my back yard with my parents checking on us every twenty minutes? Yes I do. We wound up sleeping in the barn instead because you heard a noise in the woods. We thought there was a bear. Dad made us s’mores in the microwave.”

“What happened to us?” Rachel tosses her hair, the blond shining in the moonlight. “I mean putting aside the fact that now, I could be that bear.”

“Same thing that happened to Jake. To Marco. Not exactly the same thing that happened to Tobias, but you get the idea.”

The campfire tosses the light in every direction, shadows playing off Rachel’s face. “Sometimes I think that… if I make it through this, I’m going to do something stupid like become a supervillain. And then this is all going to end with you becoming the hero that takes me down.”

Cassie laughs. “And what would my superhero name be?”

“I don’t know, She Wolf? Tree Hugger? I’m more worried about not to becoming the monster if I survive.”

“You’re going to survive,” Cassie asserts. “We all are. And I don’t think it would be that bad afterwards.”

“I just said I was going to become a super villain and you’d be the one to hunt me down.”

Cassie smiles. “After all these years, haven’t you ever read any of Marco’s comics? Heroes and villains, they almost always know each other. Why do you think the heroes never turn any of them into jail? Rachel, they’re usually friends. I don’t think there’s anything out there that could stop us being friends.”

Rachel takes a long shuddering breath. “I still haven’t forgiven you for Tom.”

“And I still think you’re out of control.” Cassie says.

But tomorrow, they make their last stand. Tomorrow, they take out the Yeerks or they all die trying. There’s every chance that one of them doesn’t make it back.

“I’ll see you tomorrow, Cassie,” Rachel says. “When we win, I’m taking you to the mall. No way you do the victory dance wearing overalls.”

Cassie throws an arm over her friend’s shoulder, squeezes her in a brief, one-armed hug. “See you tomorrow, Rachel.”

“Yeah,” Rachel says, hugging her back. “I’ll see you after we’ve won.”


	7. Warrior (Rachel, Aldrea)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Tumblr prompt: I'd love to see more of Aldrea, in any sort of circumstances! Original book love story, or a scene with Aldrea-Cassie and Rachel, with Rachel feeling confused about being passed over as the ruthless warrior. (circa book 34)

“I didn’t want a warrior.”

I look up. It’s Cassie’s body talking but it’s so clearly not Cassie. “Aldrea,” I reply. “Where’s Cassie?”

“Cassie’s sleeping. She graciously allowed my use of her body while she rested."

I narrow my eyes. Sleeping means unaware.

Aldrea sits down next to me.

“You have to understand that I am not a warrior by nature.” Aldrea says. The speech patterns are measured, nothing like Ax when he’s trying a human morph. Then again, after she became a  _nothlit_ she must have adapted to speech. “I was not an _artish_. I fought because it was the right thing to fight. I fought because it was the only way to save my adoptive people. Even looking at you, Rachel, I can tell that is not why you fight.”

“I don’t want to talk about me.” It’s hard to look at her. Instead, I let my eyes drift to Tobias perched on Ax’s shoulder. To Jake deep in conversation with Toby. “I want to talk about Cassie.”

“She’s like me you see. She fights because of a moral obligation. Because of her love for her friends, this planet. Just like I was driven by my love for Dak. Do you see? We are the same.”

“Cassie’s an idealist,” I reply. “Cassie once welcomed a Yeerk into her head because she thought it was the only way to make peace. She’s sharing with you because she sees an opportunity to give hope to an entire race, but…”

Aldrea tilts her head and finishes my thought for me, “But my father once gifted an Andalite secret that let the Yeerks spread across the galaxy. I understand. There is a danger to idealism. But yet idealism is representative of hope for us all. You are not an idealist, but a warrior. I have great respect for people like you, but I understand why my _ixcila_ chose Cassie.”

“You’re right. I never had much use for idealism.” I stand up and lean close enough to whisper in her ear. “Know this: Cassie is my best friend. If you put her unneeded danger, I will find a way to strip your _ixcila_ from her body and I will personally throw you into the sun.”

Aldrea smiles at me. “I understand why she likes you. I’m honored to fight by your side.”


	8. Tactical Advantage (Cassie, Jake)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Prompt from JustVisiting: Can we have some Cake? After the war, I mean. If Cassie had convinced Jake to take her with them to save Ax.

“Without you, we lose.”

Cassie’s this close to walking away but she stops. Turns around and she knows already that’s a mistake.

Jake looks the same as he always does. His face too lean, but his back straight. She knows he gets into fights sometimes. In no name little bars where the people are too drunk or too oblivious to match Jake’s face with the hero of the Yeerk invasion. He lets them beat him bloody, and then when he’s coughing up blood he morphs.  

“We lose,” Jake repeats. “You get that right? I’m supposed to be the tactician, the one who sees an answer. Well I’m telling you this. If you weren’t one of the Animorphs, we’d be overrun.”

“I gave away a tactical advantage to the enemy,” Cassie say replies. “You all hated me for it. Ax hated me for it.”

All of Jake’s smiles are a little wistful these days. “No he didn’t.”

It stops Cassie short. That’s why Jake’s asking. Because he wants her to go save Ax.

“No,” Cassie agrees. “He was mad at me, but he never hated me.”

“You realize I have to save him, right? We don’t lose any more Animorphs. This isn’t about you and me or morals. This is about our friend. None of the analysts say it, but they don’t understand. Without you we lose the war. Without you, we don’t save Ax.”

But Cassie was a child when she was fighting. She was stupid and naïve and though she’s proud of the decisions she’s made, there are nights when she still wakes up shaking. Her leaps of faith worked, but she’s come to appreciate how absurdly, _stupidly_ lucky she was.

Knowing that, it’s hard to agree to go back. Even for Ax.

“We’re a team, Cassie,” Jake says. He’s just short of pleading. “I don’t think I can make this work without you.”

Cassie doesn’t know if she can do this again.

But she knew she was going to go with him the second she turned around.


	9. Baseball (Tobias, Marco)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Tumblr prompt: Animorphs - favorite sport teams 
> 
> (... would have been good if I remembered to post this one before the World Series was over. Whoops.)
> 
> (Tobias, Marco, only dialogue)

[You know, I was wandering what you did for fun. Stalking Visser Three has got to get old.]

[I never really got to do this back when I was human. Just games on the radio. This almost makes up for what I missed.]

[I’ve been to a game. Trust me. This is better. I can see—WHERE WAS THAT, UMP? ARE YOU BLIND?]

[Yeah and I don’t even need to deal with heckling morons who scream the entire time even when that ball was clearly outside.]

[You need your eyes checked, bird brain. Strike all the way.]

[Thanks for coming with me, dude. I was going to ask Jake but he seemed a little…]

[Yeah, I know, he was stuck in fearless leader mode. I couldn’t even get him to play videogames yesterday. Gotta say, I was a little surprised you didn’t invite Rachel.]

[We went last week. That was enough baseball for her.]

[My parents used to take me when I was little. I loved it. Brought a glove, but we sat so high there was no chance I would catch anything. Got to say, wouldn’t have pegged you for a baseball guy.]

[I’m a bird of many mysteries.]

[Yeah, like why you’d ever support the Angels over the Dodgers. Everyone knows the DH is an abomination.]

[Takes one to know one, Marco.]

**Author's Note:**

> You guys are welcome to throw out some prompts too, if you like.


End file.
